Chandlers
by Mooey2
Summary: What if Tris met her parents? Set at an indeterminate date. Definitely after Shatterglass, and possibly after TWOTE.
1. Mages

Trisana Chandler straightened her dress with a scowl, and adjusted her brass spectacles on her beaky nose. She looked up from rereading Quicksilver's _Winds' Path_ for the tenth time or so.

"Niko, you know I hate parties. Do I honestly have…" She couldn't help but ask, even though she knew the answer.

It was bad enough being back in Ninver, the town of her birth, all too full of bad memories. Memories of her family, memories of one disappointment after another, one more person after another that didn't _want _her.

Not only to she have to socialize with a poxy, sycophantic lot of nobles, jumped-up merchants and mages who thought she got her mage's medallion through trickery or cheating, and treated her like someone who didn't know a thing, she had to wear the most horrid, frilly clothes imaginable. She cursed Sandry for sending her such a dress, and social customs that forced her to wear it out in public at least once.

Why couldn't she just stay in the room and read?

She normally gave not a whit about proper customs, but Sandry, nice though she was, would likely throw a tantrum if she found out that her gift had not been worn in public.

Of course, it would be a very proper, noble tantrum, consisting of mostly very _dignified_ pouting and sulking, but Tris really did not want to deal with it. Oh yes, and she would somehow manage to stare down her nose at Tris, even though both her and her nose were rather small. 

The outfit in question consisted of a well fitted dress in extremely fine russet red silk, covered in lace and intricate embroidery in green and gold threads, and came with a lot of even more lacey petticoats.

Niklaren Goldeye, her mentor and friend, sighed. "Tris, you know that we should attend at least one social function before we leave town. It would look dreadfully odd if we didn't."

Tris, looking at his clothes, knew that he was just saying that. He _liked_ meeting with other mages to discuss things, and hadn't gotten tired of it even after weeks and weeks at the mages' conference back in the south, and he didn't mind dressing up.

He wore a sleeveless over-robe of heavily embroidered grey silk with jet buttons, green silk pants, a black velvet cloak, and a black silk shirt. His salt and pepper hair was combed neatly back, and he looked ever inch the great mage he was.

But silk! How in the world did Sandry think Tris liked silk! It was frilly, noble stuff, not worn by good respectable, down-to-earth merchant folk like her. Oh well. She would grit her teeth and bear it for a few hours at the very least.

Chime looked up from her perch on the windowsill digesting some natron and sand and cocked her head, voicing a question cry, like a knife gently tapping a glass goblet.

Glaki glanced up from the floor beside Little Bear and wilted visibly. She asked, tone fearful, "Tris, you're making the scary eyes again. You're sparking, too. Are you angry at…" Glaki hunched her shoulders. "Me?"

Tris blushed, and said in a soft tone, smiling. "No Glaki, of course not." She coughed, and continued more sharply. "Don't worry about me."

The toddler nodded gravely, then went back to stroking the dog that was bigger than she was.

She put her fingers to her lips and whistled, bringing her favourite breezes in through the open window. She might have to wear a stuffy outfit, but she refused to be hot.

"Fine, Niko. We might as well get this thing over with. Promise me I don't have to stay too long?" Tris said wearily.

Niko didn't reply, merely raised his salt and pepper eyebrows.

Tris groaned, then got up and stalked off to get her shoes. No matter what dresses she wore, her shoes would be sensible. There would be no lacy slippers for her.


	2. Parents

It was the classic party, full of soft talking mages, nobles, and wealthy merchants in swirling silks and velvets, discussing topics that didn't matter and they didn't care about.

There were also the apprentices, noticeable almost immediately by their lower grade outfits, feigned nonchalance, and young age, and serving men carrying trays of drinks and expensive delicacies no one appreciated.

Some variety of music played somewhere off in the background, and two or three-dozen couples danced slowly in the middle of the huge hall.

It was the 'perfect' event, and thus Tris made a vow that she wouldn't enjoy a minute of it.

"May I present Mage Niklaren Goldeye, graduate of the esteemed Lightsbridge University, and Mage Trisana Chandler, graduate of the Winding Circle Temple in Emelan." The herald proclaimed with a sweeping bow.

"Go mingle, would you?" Niko ordered, before striding off to greet a dignified lady who waved him over.

Tris grabbed a snack off a passing tray. She wasn't one to miss out on good food. It would all go to waste, otherwise.

Merchant to the bone, the young mage couldn't help but look around the room and think about how much everything cost. Some of the jewelry the women were wearing must have been worth at least several gold astrels. It seemed wasteful.

An hour or two passed, and Tris moved around the room alone, feeling uncomfortable. She got a few odd looks, from her introduction. Most studied for years, even decades to earn their mage credentials, yet she was only fifteen.

She was leaning against a stair railing, bored and trying to find Niko in the crowd when she picked up the voice of a young man calling out. "Valden, Darra, how are you?"

Tris whipped her head around. Her eyes locked on to a couple; a short, stern, balding man with a hard face, and a somewhat sad-looking woman with graying red hair.

_No, no, no, nonono…_

She suddenly gripped the railing tightly with white-knuckled hands, and several strong breezes poured into the room through an open window, whipping around the room. Several people looked around, confused. Tris glanced down as a spark jumped from her hand onto the railing, singeing the hardwood.

Valden and Darra Chandler. Her parents. She hadn't seen them since she was much, much younger, Her control over her magic wasn't as… good, then. She had been called cursed, or a ghost, and worse, and her parents hadn't wanted her. House Chandler didn't deal with broken goods. They had dropped her off with relatives and told her that they didn't want her back. Ever.

Tris pushed her spectacles up her nose with shaking hands, and looked around. She had to get out of here. Now. She had to find Niko. The young girl realized she was trembling. She couldn't… what would she…

Striding off, she quickly noticed Niko's head in the crowd. Not concentrating on anybody else, she bumped into several people making her way over. Walking up to Niko, she tapped him on the arm, and mumbled, "Niko, we have to get…"

The same young man that she had heard a moment ago spoke again, much nearer this time. "Goldeye, this must be that student of yours. What was her name?"

Tris looked up, and froze. Her parents were standing right there, a few feet away from her, casually sipping drinks. Her father met her eyes, and frowned slightly. Tris flinched, but he didn't connect the scared little girl that he had last seen with the young mage in a fancy dress.

Oblivious, Niko casually introduced her. "May I present my former student, Mage Trisana Chandler. She is a graduate of the Winding Circle Temple, in Emelan."

Her mother looked at Niko, then looked hard at Tris. Shocked, Darra suddenly dropped her cup. It crashed to the floor, and rolled away, unnoticed. "Urda bless us… Tris?"

Tris realized a few stray sparks were starting to dance through her braids. She concentrated hard, and dispersed them. No one noticed, in the flickering lights of the party.

Her father frowned again. "Darra, what do you…" He glanced at Tris, then looked again, as if really noticing her for the first time.

"Gods… It can't be…"

Tris was finding it hard to open her mouth, or do much beside stand there. When she was younger, she used to dream of doing great deeds, amazing things, and her parents would hear of what she had done, jump up, and tell her that they loved her. She would fly into their arms, and they would apologize, and cry.

The daydreams began to fade, and were gone by the time she had been dumped at the Stone Circle Temple, all those years ago, where Niko had found her.

She had a new family now, a much better one, one that appreciated and love her. But try as she might to deny it, part of her had always wanted to see them again.

This however, was never how she had imagined it.

"Mage? But, we had her tested. By the best mage sniffer in… We thought she was possessed, or mad, or…" Valden said abruptly.

They still believed that about her. Tris felt like she had been punched.

Thankfully, Niko cut in. Placing a comforting hand on Tris' shoulder, he looked down sympathetically.

"Trisana has a very specialized kind of magic that is difficult for conventional, academic mages to detect. It was difficult at first even for me to notice her power, and my speciality is finding what's hidden."

"Wait. You are a mage? That's impossible. You are too young! How old are you, sixteen?" Her father exclaimed.

"Fifteen. And I _earned_ my right!" Tris said angrily, whipping out her mage medallion, and with the same gesture shaking off Niko's hand. It took all of her willpower not to let her breezes loose, or start sparking everywhere. She had the control to do that, now. If she could prove one thing to her parents, it was that.

"I still don't understa..." Her mother began, but Tris cut her off brusquely.

"Anyway, what do you care? You abandoned me!" The girl shouted at her parents. It was too much. She began to sob uncontrollably.

Her mother reached a tentative hand out to her daughter. "Trisan..."

"No!"

Ignoring the reactions of those around her, she spun around and shoved her way through the crowd, tears running down her cheeks.


	3. Cowards

Niko found her half an hour later in the corner of one of the balconies, sitting down on a bench hugging her legs and staring out into the night. Her tears had dried up, leaving her face a blotchy red mess.

"Hello." He said.

She didn't look up. Silently, he sat down beside her. For several long minutes, they sat together without saying a word.

"They said they never wanted me back."

"I know."

"Do you know how that feels? To be told by your own parents that you were too... broken, for them to keep? To be passed from person to person until _no one will take you?_ Do you really know?"

"I have been your teacher for over five years, Trisana. Trust me, I do." Niko said.

"Listen. I explained to them about you. They understand better, now." Niko frowned. That didn't sound right, somehow.

"I don't want to see them." Tris said, sniffing.

"I realize that."

"Tris. People get scared, and irrational, when they see things they don't understand, things that seem dangerous. I'm not saying what your parents did was right, but try to at least understand their motivation." Niko replied gently.

"I was TEN, Niko! And they told a stranger that I wasn't their daughter anymore!"

"And maybe I don't want to take the risk! The last time I opened up to one of my family, to Aymery... Maybe, after every single family member I have ever known betrayed and left me, I don't want to try again!"

"You are the only one of your siblings whose parents are still alive. Daja's parents drowned. Briar never even really knew his parents, and Sandry, well, she has probably told you as much or more about her story than she has told me. If any of them was given the chance to see their family again, don't you think they would take it?"

"Don't you go comparing me to them, Niko!" Tris was crying again. "I'm _not_ them. I never have been. You should know that. Maybe I would be better if I was more like, like Sandry! More nice and sweet and people-loving! Maybe they wouldn't have left me, then! Maybe I _am _broken, just not in the way that they thought!"

Her breezes went loose, whipping around her dress and extinguished the lanterns illuminating the balcony, casting them into the dimness of moon glow.

Niko reached out a hand, about to use magic to re-light the lamps, then decided against it.

He sighed, and finally said, "Tris, you know that's unfair to you."

"And maybe it's not. I never belonged anywhere, Niko. Not with my family, not at the Stone Circle, not at the Winding Circle dormitories, not with these fancy mage parties. I'm not sure I even really fit in at Discipline. I don't, don't _relate_ to people, Niko. I can't open up the way I don't know why, I just sort of, can't."

"I know it won't be easy for you, but sometimes the easiest course of action isn't the right one, Trisana."

Tris looked up at Niko, wiping her eyes. "I know. It would be braver to face them. Just, let me be a coward for once." She paused. "Please?"

Niko finally nodded. "I should say my goodbyes to some people. Meet me at the front doors in five minutes. " He stood to leave.

"And, Trisana? I'm sorry."

They left Ninver the next morning.

Author's Note: Some people may be unsatisfied with how I ended this. In truth, I was at first, too. When I started writing this story, I was going to end it with Tris and her parents reconciling. But, I had to be true to Tris' character, and that's just, not Tris. She doesn't trust people that much, and I don't think she could do that. So, I hope that makes sense. Read and review, please!


End file.
